zoyia emporess

greenie – posted 20 November 2002 19:54

I live down in So. Florida and sodded with zoyia emporess about 45 days ago–the entire lot. My goal is to eventually have a lawn simlar to a putting green–I was told emporess will do the trick–over time. I have a “real mower” and have had to cut it already once. The currrent height is 1 1/2″ which I’m hoping to lower to 1/4″–to achieve this please someone apply to the following questions.

1. When do I fertilize emporess?2. Should I over seed with rye in the winter (Nov. – March)?3. Is anyone out there have emporess as a lawn and could you please contact via email.

Thanks!

Will-PCB – posted 22 November 2002 07:52

I’m not a EMPRESS Zoysia grass owner, but I was able to do a little research for you …

quote:1. When do I fertilize emporess?

I believe this chart below (click image properties for URL) could be a good start for you to print and follow:

quote:2. Should I over seed with rye in the winter (Nov. – March)?

Personally, I would tend to think that overseeding any turfgrass with another would generally not be a great idea. Again, I am not an expert, but my mind tells me that two different types of turfgrasses would require different treatments ranging from types of fertilization to soil ph (and probably several other considerations in between). Best bet would be to just have some patience with your present turfgrass, and follow your sod provider’s instructions.

Fortunately there is plenty of information on the net concerning your specific turfgrass without using this forum to provide free advertisement to any specific provider. Just follow the link below for some resources for questions I could not answer here.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22EMPRESS+Zoysia

theplantation2860 – posted 22 November 2002 19:33

I have some empress zoysia that i’m trying. So far it’s been pretty good. Looks great, nice dark green. It has been difficult to get it as level as i’d like it to be. The shortest i’ve had mine was 7/8″. It is not as drought tolerant as i thought it would be, even less at shorter height. It did dry out in 2 spot once and took about 4 month to come back. A manual reel mower will work, as long as you don’t have to cut too much of the blade, but a power reel mower is the way to go.

greenie – posted 25 November 2002 12:19

Thanks for all your help! I decided to research via golf courses down here to see what their experience has been with the empress–they explained rye only helps in the winter with thickening the entire mass as a whole.

Thanks again and for the individual that responded that has this type…..what type of mower do you have and cutting the grass that low can you put a ball on it?

theplantation2860 – posted 25 November 2002 19:15

I think the brand i have is American, or something like that. Empress is so thick, you shouldn’t need to overseed at all. I haven’t found any courses around here that use Empress. I don’t think it can be cut low enough to use on a course. At 1/2, that would be about like a long fairway grass. Any higher is about what a rough would be. There are other varieties of zoysia that can be cut lower. Empress at 1/2 is gonna take a lot of monitoring. Mine looks great at 7/8 and everyone thinks it looks like a putting green, but you put a golf ball on it and it disappears.

frenchman – posted 25 November 2002 20:27

Meyers is use on golf course around the greens and bunkers because it’s slow growing and doesn’t creep as fast as other zoysia

Lex – posted 30 March 2003 12:40

I sodded/plugged my back yard with empress. I don’t think you will ever get a decent quality “putting green” from this grass (just my opinion as a golfer and zoysia lover). My grass is also high (3-4 inches) and I am slowly cutting it lower and lower with a goal of about 2 inches. A putting green is about 1/4th to 1/2 inch (grass dependent).

frenchman – posted 30 March 2003 18:30

Lex, I don’t know where you are playing golf at, but if you are playing at a course where there greens are 1/4 to 1/2 they must have alot of people bitching about how slow the greens are. We mow the greens between 1/8 to 5/32 depending on the time of year.